Box Turtle, Snake and other wild animals at Wild Island Sculpture Garden
We discovered a new friend living under the walkway.
Sure looks like a garter snake.
Walking in the woods near our house I found what I thought was a painted turtle. 
I brought it home for the kids to check out. They quickly checked some books and found out that it is a Box turtle and they can live up to 100 years old.
The Turtle seemed to like our hospitality and walked into the house. We figured he belonged in the wilds of Chilmark and so we left him down by our ponds.
A couple of days later while biking I came across a Box turtle across State Road. It looked like she is laying eggs. I wonder if it is the same turtle. What do you think? 
69 Years Old and Everything is Falling Apart
Yesterday was my birthday. I had finished filling the pool the night before and was waiting for my birthday for my first swim in a couple of months. But when I looked at the pool the water level had dropped a half a foot since the day before. Turned out the hose from the filter back to the pool had cracked and split: nothing like cheesy plastic that lasts a few years and then fails. I moved the break above the water level to stop the leak and started refilling the pool again. I had to go down island later in the day for physical therapy on my thumb and could get a replacement hose then. Since I couldn't swim I made a nice cup of Chilmark Coffee and was reading the paper when I heard gurgling in the kitchen sink drain. Marianne was doing a wash and obviously the waste drain had decided to become clogged on my birthday. Oh Joy and Rapture Unforeseen! Not really something that I wanted to deal with on my birthday. Also my plumbing snake was pretty beat up and kinked so it made sense to get a new one on my down island trip, but first I decided to check out the web to see if there was a better way to attack the blockage. On Amazon I found a cool looking new tool:
You attach a hose to it and put it down the waste pipe (fortunately when I did the plumbing I put in a lot of cleanout Ts just in case) until it hits the blockage. Then when you turn on the water in the hose the black rubber inflates and seals the pipe above the blockage while a narrow high pressure stream of water comes out the end which both blasts the blockage and builds up pressure behind it forcing it down the drain and into the septic tank. I bought one and tried it out this morning. Then I started the washing machine and made a cup of coffee and started writing this blog post while I waited to see if the kitchen sink would gurgle. Nothing! It worked like a charm. So now I have to finish cleaning up and putting away the tools, etc. That is something I've determined I have to change now that I'm 69. I need to clean up after each job or task and really finish the whole job. Not something I have been good at doing. But who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Fixing the hose on the pool naturally was more complicated that it should have been because when I first attached the new tubing the fitting (also made out of cheap plastic for swimming pools) cracked in half. Fortunately I have a lot of miscellaneous plumbing supplies down in boxes in the basement and had better replacement part that should last. Finally the pool was fixed and after I vacuumed out the pool Dash, El, Wren and I were able to play in the pool again. That was fun and now the pool is ready for action when the Cousins arrive on Tuesday.
After a delicious Birthday dinner the kids insisted we make a fire outside and cook marshmallows and have our homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie (made with fresh strawberries and rhubarb from our garden)
For my birthday Marianne had printed a new batch of Swordfish Harpooner sweatshirts and T-shirts.
You attach a hose to it and put it down the waste pipe (fortunately when I did the plumbing I put in a lot of cleanout Ts just in case) until it hits the blockage. Then when you turn on the water in the hose the black rubber inflates and seals the pipe above the blockage while a narrow high pressure stream of water comes out the end which both blasts the blockage and builds up pressure behind it forcing it down the drain and into the septic tank. I bought one and tried it out this morning. Then I started the washing machine and made a cup of coffee and started writing this blog post while I waited to see if the kitchen sink would gurgle. Nothing! It worked like a charm. So now I have to finish cleaning up and putting away the tools, etc. That is something I've determined I have to change now that I'm 69. I need to clean up after each job or task and really finish the whole job. Not something I have been good at doing. But who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Fixing the hose on the pool naturally was more complicated that it should have been because when I first attached the new tubing the fitting (also made out of cheap plastic for swimming pools) cracked in half. Fortunately I have a lot of miscellaneous plumbing supplies down in boxes in the basement and had better replacement part that should last. Finally the pool was fixed and after I vacuumed out the pool Dash, El, Wren and I were able to play in the pool again. That was fun and now the pool is ready for action when the Cousins arrive on Tuesday.
After a delicious Birthday dinner the kids insisted we make a fire outside and cook marshmallows and have our homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie (made with fresh strawberries and rhubarb from our garden)
Yesterday was a long day. The big thing was taking The Dance down to the Family
Planning Art Show. Chris came up early, but he had a meeting at 10AM.
Still he managed to spray a coat of yellow on the Swinging Jenny girl,
spray a coat of red on the first cast Lying Lady and help me move The
Dance out of the studio (it cleared the door by an inch) and then prop
one end of it up so we could put the trailer under it. Todd drove
behind me with his flashers going on the way to the new Ag Hall and them
helped me unload it. It all went quite smoothly.
The
Dance looks great in a big space. It will be fun to see in in the
middle of a big crowd of people at the Gala opening of the Family
Planning Art Show tonight.
Swinging Jenny with the burka look before I took off the wrappings that were protecting the red paint.
I went for a short ride before dinner. It was so foggy it was hard to see the beach from the top of the Wequobsque Cliffs.
It is so peaceful being by the stream in the middle of the woods.
The first iris have flowered by Sophie's pond. It is just these four and they sure are early.
I started physical therapy for my thumb at the hospital yesterday. Turns out that the problem is a form of tendonitis. The tensor tendon is inflamed and swollen so it has trouble fitting through the "pulleys" that hold it in place. that is what is causing the "click" when my thumb doesn't bend and then it suddenly does with the click which is the swollen part popping through the "pulley". Laura, the hand specialist, gave me a little plastic thing to immobilize my thumb so it can heal. Five time a day I have to passively bend the joint 20 times to keep it limber. For some reason the tendon slides through the pulley with no problem when the joint is being passively bent. It is annoying to wear the little plastic thing, but I am determined to stick with the physical therapy and get my thumb working right again. It is not just the pain, it is also that I need the full use of my thumb for my sculpture as well as so many other things in life.
Swinging Jenny with the burka look before I took off the wrappings that were protecting the red paint.
I went for a short ride before dinner. It was so foggy it was hard to see the beach from the top of the Wequobsque Cliffs.
It is so peaceful being by the stream in the middle of the woods.
The first iris have flowered by Sophie's pond. It is just these four and they sure are early.
And beautiful.  | ||||
| My Patriot's bigger than your Scud |
I started physical therapy for my thumb at the hospital yesterday. Turns out that the problem is a form of tendonitis. The tensor tendon is inflamed and swollen so it has trouble fitting through the "pulleys" that hold it in place. that is what is causing the "click" when my thumb doesn't bend and then it suddenly does with the click which is the swollen part popping through the "pulley". Laura, the hand specialist, gave me a little plastic thing to immobilize my thumb so it can heal. Five time a day I have to passively bend the joint 20 times to keep it limber. For some reason the tendon slides through the pulley with no problem when the joint is being passively bent. It is annoying to wear the little plastic thing, but I am determined to stick with the physical therapy and get my thumb working right again. It is not just the pain, it is also that I need the full use of my thumb for my sculpture as well as so many other things in life.
Fwd: Homeless Children invade the Wild Island Sculpture Garden
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jay Lagemann <jaylagemann@gmail.com>
Date: April 23, 2013, 8:39:11 AM EDT
To: "fieldston-62@googlegroups.com" <fieldston-62@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Homeless Children invade the Wild Island Sculpture Garden
The encampment by the ponds.
Malia and Wren with foraged food.
Temperature in the 40s, but Wren, El, and Sam are "tuff".
A healthy low fat meal.
Jay
-- Jay Lagemann www.jaylagemann.com http://jaylagemann.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/artistjaylagemann http://www.facebook.com/WildIslandSculptureGarden
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